I know itís been awhile since the last Bardís newsletter. I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch you up on whatís been going on with me for the last 6 plus months. With that length of time, of course, there is a lot of information to share. So Iíll give you the summed up version. Of course summing up for an overdue newsletter requires extra effort, so I thought Iíd give it to you in rhyme. But donít worryÖnot in a Billy Joel sort of way.

Past October last show done;Now Flynnís Folly is on the run.

Having fun arranging songs.We live in Austin, but without bongs.

Arranged our music for CD,But live wonít sound the same to me.

Come January, first test showWith six instruments in tow.

Played Arizona then I-Con.Worked music hard, fixed what was wrong.

Produced and mixed a friendís CD.A great success, need time for me.

Back to the sound I longed to hearWorking with Michelle, its become clear.

The path is right, the CD trueWeíre working hard to bring to you.

Iím writing up our schedule nowAnd you can help. Here is how:

For House Concert and Venue, donít forgetShare your thoughts with Andrew @ thebards.net.

My PR person said I had to have a last sentence with a bow and I always listen to my PR person!

Andrew McKeeFlynn's Folly

MARC GUNN'S NEWS

Hey friends! There've been a lot of changes since last year. I moved to New Orleans last fall, and I love it! It's an exciting and vibrant city that is very inspiring to me musically.

Since I moved down here, I've recorded three new CDs. My latest, "Happy Songs of Death", was just sent off to the printers yesterday. I am so psyched about this album, because it fuses a touch of my new city with my love of traditional Celtic songs.

The CD is due to be released in August. In the meantime, I am spending the summer on the road with my first solo tours.

In fact, I'm heading home from a Chicago tour right now. In a couple weeks, I will be off to Maryland and New York for another tour. Then I have gigs at GenCon, DragonCon, Ireland, plus a few CD releases, and then back this fall for the Louisiana Renaissance Festival.

You might note I said, "Ireland". Yup. I am still taking fans on trips around the world. This September, we're going there for my second Celtic Invasion Vacation, where we will spend a week in Dingle, Ireland, soaking in the country and celebrating good food, good drink, and good company.

Course, I am still publishing my Irish & Celtic Music, Renaissance Festival, and Pub Songs Podcasts. All in all, life is busy and happy. If you'd like to be a part of it, please...

FenCon Show Times

Friday 9:00 PM Oak BallroomBrobdingnagian Bards Friday Night ConcertDescription: The great music at FenCon continues with a performance by this fun and entertaining band from Austin. If you missed them two years ago, here is your chance to set things right.

In 1995, I graduated college and told myself, "I love Austin, but I really want to live some place new." I gave myself a year. That turned into thirteen years. I finally decided that I am gonna leave Austin, at least temporarily. In November, my new home will be New Orleans. But I'll only be living there until next June (no worries about hurricane season). Then? I'm not sure.

The other big thing for me is travel. I love to play music, but traveling for a "gig" is just not for me. The hours on the road wear me down. Plus, I don't like leaving my kitties all by themselves for weeks on end.

Also, I have a weird perspective on performing. I prefer to think of gigs as paid vacations. While I mostly plan to play locally in New Orleans, I am still hoping to see some new places next year. But I plan to fly in and out, playing a gig while I see the new place. Is it possible? Eh? Who knows! But there's a lot of places around the country and the world I really want to see.

Which brings me to the next thing--Europe. Okay. So, I've been brainstorming this wild idea. Picture it. You fly to, say, Italy. You live in a house for a week with a bunch of other people. During the day, you see and experience one of the oldest, most-beautiful cultures on the planet. In the evening, you celebrate with good food, good drink, and good company, while singing songs along with me or just relaxing in paradise.

Whatcha you think? That's the tentative idea I've been throwing around in my head. I am thinking about organizing a "Celtic Invasion of Italy" just like that. And the opportunities are endless. We could do stuff like that in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, China, Greece, Canada, Florida, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, whatever. Anyone besides me want to go to Prince Edward Island on an Anne of Green Gables pilgrimage?? Ummm... Okay, I'll shut up now. :P

What else?

This year, I released four new CDs. Yes, FOUR. I LOVE recording music. I have several CDs planned for the future. In fact, I just finished a four-song preview of one, recorded with Rich Brotherton who produced my latest cat CD Whiskers in the Jar. I can't begin to explain how much I LOVE working with him. His special engineering touch makes the music sound incredible!

Oh! There are two gigs I am really, really, REALLY hoping to be at next year--I-Con Science Fiction Convention in New York, and DragonCon in Georgia. I don't know if I can get in as a no-named indie musician, but those are two of my absolute favorite shows of the past nine years. I really hope I will be there. I'm gonna talk to the people in charge to see if I can make it happen. If you know anyone in those places, please send them good vibes and let them know I am dying to be a guest.

That's about it. Again, if you want to find out more join my mailing list below. I will keep you up-to-date.

Andrew Answers the Questions He's Seen

Thanks to everyone for the concern and support. As for the future, who knows. Many things prompted this, too many to even try to mention, but this wasn't one of those "we had a fight at DragonCon moments." This was a natural evolution of events and although many of you are surprised by the suddenness of it, it was not arrived at without a great deal of thought and discussion.

As for me, I do have a lot of projects going. As some of you have noted, Marc has been doing a lot of solo things for a while and to be honest, I do feel like I have to play catch up a bit. I have also let Marc be the front man online and I realize now that was a mistake on my part. The good news for you is that now I am going to be very vocal so you will hear a lot from me.

Firstly, I had to put my solo CD on hold a bit so that I could finish "Real Men Wear Kilts" in the studio. I finished it the Sunday before DragonCon and the first run was delivered to the Hotel at DragonCon. That cut it close but I worked hard to finish it and make it of a quality you all deserve. I do the mixing, mastering, and general sound engineering so I do all of that work myself. My solo CD is back on and it is coming along. I think you are going to like it as I will make sure it is of the highest quality and the most value for all of you. That means lots of tracks to sing along to. I've always had a theory that a CD holds at least 74 minutes of Audio. If you don't get close to that, you are just wasting space.

Second, I am starting a new group with Michelle Hedden, a drummer who was going to be the third bard 5 years ago or so but unfortunately, it didn't work out geographically at that time. I am very excited about working with her and what we've worked on so far I think you are going to really like.

Third, I'll have the new groups MySpace page up in a couple of days so look out for that. I'll also try to have the band website up by the end of the month. That's more difficult but I think you'll like it when it is done.

Fourth, I am also starting a production company representing Ren Faire groups. In the last 10 years, I've learned a lot from the bards. The big thing is if I knew what I know now back when we started, we would have gotten to where we are in a couple of years. I would like to help new bands follow the right path, not just to success but the right path for them. I'll update you on that soon as well.

Important Announcement for Brobdingnagian Bards Fans

The Brobdingnagian Bards have been amazed and gratified by the outpouring of love and support from their fans over the last 10 years. Marc Gunn and Andrew McKee have had the good fortune to meet interesting people, see new places, and, most importantly, have fun every step of the way throughout their journey together. After much soul searching, the time has come for them to follow their own artistic pursuits for a while.

Bard CDs and Merchandise will still be available for purchase through www.thebards.net and all of the valuable information will still be available. Information on Marc and Andrew's individual projects will be listed on the site and newsletter so please stay tuned for updates.

The Bards greatly appreciate your continued interest in their music and look forward to sharing their music with you for years to come. Thanks again to all of you for your support.

Dragoncon 2008

Marc says:

This was, strangely enough, one of my most-fun years at DragonCon. I think it had a to do with the fact that Brobdingnagian Bards were such late additions.

We were accepted only two weeks before the show opened. However, Andrew and I already decided we would attend the con nonetheless. We expected it to be laid back, where we could actually se stuff. So when we were accepted as guests, our mindset hadn't changed too much.

Thursday. We arrived on Thursday with the usual excitement. Went to get our badges and I started the Con off right, waiting in line with Evo and his wife Sheila. I had a great time chatting with them while Andrew went to get our band table settled. Evo invited me to the podcast parties. Just what I was really looking forward to.

After getting our badges, I was wiped. The long drive and a little bit o'drinking the night before, I went to bed at 8:30pm Thursday night and woke up 7am the next morning. What a GREAT night's rest. It really set me in the mood to start DragonCon.

Friday. After waking up, I grabbed the table stuff and headed down to the Concourse to sell CDs. Our new album, Real Men Wear Kilts, arrived the day before. Arthur of Emerald Rose arrive just after me. The first thing I did was pick up his new CD. I loved some of the tracks I heard on his SoundClick page. So I hope to share some of that in an upcoming podcast.

A couple hours later, our other table people arrived. Then the excitement began. Because of the lack of officiality from the get go, we ended up overbooking when we became official. For starters, we were asked to perform at the Opening Ceremonies for the Podcast Track. I arrived early and got to spend a bunch of time with some of my podcasting friends. Andrew arrived just before start time. We played "Jedi Drinking Song" and I got to featured my brand new song "Monahan's Mudders Milk". The new song went over brilliantly.

Then we raced back to the Concourse for a show at 2pm. Fortunately, we didn't have too many problems getting back there. So aside from a bad time slot, the show went smoothly. Then I walked Back to the Hilton again for my Podcasting for Promotion panel.

It was cool to be on a panel, especially with a topic I know SO well. Admittedly, I felt it was too short. While I did learn that Twitter seems to be uber popular with podcasters, I also felt like there were a LOT of things that were left out with podcasting promotion. Ah well, it was an honor nonetheless to be there with people like Tee Morris and Evo Terra who've done a lot for the podcasting world.

A few hours later, Andrew and I were on our last panel of the weekend for the LOTR track. I was a bit worried about this one. We were to talk about and play music from our CD Memories of Middle Earth. It turned out much better than I thought it would. Mostly because, well, it was the first time we've ever had a chance to tell how the album came about. That was so cool. Our audience seemed pretty interested too. I'd definitely do something like that again in the future.

As if that wasn't enough, we had one more show for the day. It was our big filk show at 10pm. We were booked in a huge room right after our friends the Bedlam Bards. Sadly, because of the last minute booking, I didn't even know they were before us. So that made it tough to really promote the event. The room was huge, but only maybe a half filled. The performance went great though. The audience seemed really into it. I think with a bit more promotion next year, we could have a HUGE show there. When it ended, I was hot and wired. So I went to the first podcast party.

Now I noticed a wardrobe malfunction during our final show. A few weeks back, I washed some clothes and didn't dry them enough. So my shirt started smelling like mildew. So when I got to the party, it was a very short time before my shirt came off. I played one song while there for a birthday girl, drank a wee bit and then after spilling a drink, decided I should head back to my hotel room and get a decent night's sleep, which I did.

Saturday. I have a bad habit of waking up too early, especially when others are shuffling. So when Andrew and company started packing stuff for the table, it was an hour later that I was up and heading downstairs meself.

Saturday was a lighter day. We had a strolling performance through the Art Show at 4pm. Otherwise, I spent time catching up with friends. Oh! And taking a nap before the art show. Which was much needed as tired as I was. It helped. At 7pm, I went to the Parsec Awards to find out when we would play. I figured it out, and we put on a short show there. It wore me out a wee bit before our 10pm show in the same room. But wow! What a show that was!

I was a little bit worried about this show. We were scheduled opposite another comedy act, Paul and Storm. But obviously, I had Nothing to worry about. The room was almost completely full. The songs were much more diverse. This must've been one of my favorite shows of the con! Too much fun.

When the show ended, I headed back up to the podcast party, once again, losing my shirt, just because. ;) I played a few songs after arriving. They went over great and then just hung out and drank, meeting some new people and getting to know others too.

Sunday morning came too soon. I was tired, waking up too soon once again. I took another short nap before our Art Show walkabout. And then that evening, I headed to my friends' room. Jamie and Gena helped me finalize the costume for my, uh, friend, Captain Black Jack Murphy. The pirate was solidified, and we all headed to the Pirate Party.

The Pirate Party kicked off earlier than anticipated that night. That meant, that Capt. Murphy was joined by Maggie on bodhran and they played a few rockin' songs, getting the pirates rowdy enough for the rest of the evening. I, uh, I dropped by briefly to see the show, but, um, Capt. Murphy has a potty mouth. So I, uh, left early. But, uh, I heard the whole story.

Murphy seemed to have a grand time annoying people, flirting, drinking, and dancing to excess. Good thing *I* missed it all.

Fortunately, I woke up feeling refreshed the next morning. But with overall sleep deprivation, I was surprised I didn't get sick, but I felt great.

All in all, it was a brilliant time that flew by far too quickly. Aside from the lack of sleep, I could use another week of DragonCon.

Brobdingnagian Bards First Two CDs Now On Sale

Well after much begging and cajoling, we gave in and decided to make the first two Brobdingnagian Bards CDs, Marked By Great Size and Gullible's Travels, publicly available. Not only that, but the first 15 copies are signed by us.

Gullible's Travels was released in March 2000 at Things Celtic in Austin and then throughout. It featured our first recording of "Tolkien" which rocketed our popularity on MP3.com. Many of the songs were re-recorded on later CDs or added to compilations, but there's nothing like hearing the album in it's entirety.

If you ever wondered what the Brobdingnagian Bards sounded like... in the beginning. Now you can. Pick up a copy of the CDs while you can.